1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to food for animals. More specifically, this invention relates to a complete, integral animal feed, especially for horses, cattle, dogs, cats and other domesticated animals. The complete animal feed includes a potato component which acts as a binder to bind all of the components of the feed into an integral, pelletizable product. The potato component is particularly useful for binding a nutritional supplement with the other components. The nutritional supplement will vary depending upon the animal in question. All of the components, including the bound nutritional supplement, are combined and pelletized. The resulting pellets provide an integral animal feed which alone meets the complete nutritional requirements of the particular animal.
2. Related Art
For a long time, ranchers and cattle feed-lot operators have fed cows with feed with a potato component. Typically, the potato component is a by-product from potato processing for food for humans. For example, potato peels, off-size bits and chunks, and off-spec potato flakes or granules, french fries and hash browns have often been recovered and used for cattle feed.
Typically, however, the potato component in cattle feed has been just a portion of the cow""s diet. Supplemental roughage and nutrients from hay and grain have also been required. These supplemental components have been supplied separately to the ranch pens and commercial feedlots where they have been typically mixed with the potato component and distributed to the cattle feed bunks and troughs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,270 (Ueda et al.) discloses a high protein food containing potato powder, the food product being prepared by forming a dough, and heating the dough in a vacuum until the dough is dried to a water content of about 3 weight percent. It is critical that the product be heated at reduced pressure to obtain the desired water content without heating the dough itself excessively, permitting the proteins to be thermally denatured and thereby give an improved flavor without becoming thermally degraded. The process of Ill produces a food which does not feel powdery, but tastes more like snack foods.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,818 (Vazza) discloses a livestock feed from potato waste which is treated with a starch hydrolyzing enzyme and three types of yeasts. The starch hydrolyzing enzyme aids in the conversion of the starch present in the potato waste to sugars which the fermenting yeasts utilize during their growth. The particular combination and order of addition of yeasts and enzymes insures that virtually all carbohydrate present in the potato waste is used to support the growth of the yeasts producing a high protein, low carbohydrate livestock feed.
Still, there is a need for a complete integral animal feed which is easily and economically prepared with a potato component. This invention addresses that need by combining hay, oats, and potato waste with a vitamin supplement premix. The composite animal feed is a complete food requiring no further supplementation. The instant invention provides an economical, one-step, integral, composite animal feed which incorporates potato waste and a vitamin supplement premix forming a complete animal feed. The instant invention is economically produced using potato waste, and economical to use since no further supplementation is necessary.
The invention is an animal feed containing a potato component, and a method of producing an animal feed containing a potato component. Preferably, the potato component is a dehydrated potato flake component which is a by-product of potato flake manufacture for human consumption, and contains only about 10 weight percent water. In addition, when used as a horse feed, the composite also contains chopped or ground hay, ground oats and a soy-meal based supplement containing a yeast culture, vitamins, minerals and 50 weight percent soy-meal. The relative weight percent of each of the components is about:
All of these components are mixed together and the mixture is then pelletized to create individual, integral briquettes, sized about 1 cubic inch and bagged in 50 lb. packages for a complete horse feed.
When the feed is used for other animals, the relative weight percentages of the components, the components themselves, and the composition of the supplement may vary. However, in all instances, the potato component acts as the binder. The binder makes it possible to produce an integral pelletized food, including a nutritional supplement, which meets all of the nutritional requirements of the particular animal in question.